Dr. Andrew Forde, Department of Rural and Community Development - All voices must be heard to create effective policy

In this episode Fiona Descoteaux, CEO of Innovate Communities, talks with the fascinating Dr Andrew Forde.  Andrew talks passionately about the formative moment in his career which set him on a journey to study human rights, taking him across Europe before arriving back in Ireland to commence a prominent position in the Department of Rural and Community Development.  He discusses the great privilege he has to help and implement national policy, particularly in the context of rural and social enterprise development. He notes the special duty he and his colleagues in the public sector have to build in systems and processes that draw in different voices across community to co-create policy and stipulates the critical importance of working together across society to achieve this. Fundamentally Andrew believes we need to be working together, we need to be working for a society based on equality, on non-discrimination, on cohesion not inclusion, and sincerely believes that they are building blocks for thriving societies, for societies that just do better.  Enjoy the show. Innovate Communities: Website LinkedIn This podcast has been produced by Fuzion Communications